Japan

Strange as it may seem, there was a time, back in the years just after World War II, when present-day video game giant Nintendo was a small family-owned company whose main product was a card game called hanafuda, a favorite pastime of Japanese gangsters. Hiroshi Yamauchi, who died in Japan on Sept. 19 at age 85, changed all that. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Nintendo scion redirected the company into the then-nascent world of electronic entertainment. He …

You probably know that President Obama has nominated Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of President John F. Kennedy and first lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, to be ambassador to Japan. But here are 10 things you may not know about the 55-year-old scion of America’s best-known political dynasty: She’s named after her aunt, Caroline Lee Bouvier, a.k.a. Lee Radziwill. Ethnically, she is three-fourths Irish and one-fourth French. While her father was president, her Secret Service code name was Lyric. At the White …

The death of screen legend Elizabeth Taylor was huge news last week. By this point you’ve read obits, appreciations and remembrances from every major news outlet. As much as you love her, you might be, as one colleague put it, “All Taylored-out.” But allow us to offer one more Taylor appreciation. It offers a rare look inside the life of what some call “The Last Movie Star.” Others You May Have Missed The world of politics lost a pioneer in …

Of the millions affected by the earthquake and tsunami, that hit Japan nearly two weeks ago, itsÂ seniors were the worst hit. A large number of seniors live in the region where the earthquake and tsunami struck hardest. Many older people had homes in the towns most affected, and now are left with nothing besides what they were able to narrowly escape carrying. Japanese officials are providing emergency resources and support to those affected by the disaster. But for Japan’s seniors, …

The destroyer rises from the ocean, utterly unexpected, leaves untold destruction in its wake; and gives rise to the threat of nuclear destruction. If the themes of the 1954 Japanese monster flick Gojira (Godzilla to us here in the U.S.) eerily echo the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear meltdown nightmare unfolding in Japan, the similarities are not completely coincidental. The fact is, while we consider Godzilla to be a cheapo thriller starring a guy in a lizard suit, for Japanese filmgoers less than a …